Cosplay Central: If you want to hunt some serious monsters, you’re going to need some serious weapons. Serious enough to dispatch fearsome beasts like mega-spiders, burrowing horned worms, or fire-breathing dragons. Sometimes, only a flaming sword (or two) will do. Or maybe a weapon made from dead monster parts. (Don’t waste the bones!)
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Right off the bat, the headline drew my eyes. That very idea of bringing something to life is something so specific to the work that we do as artists, and it makes me really happy that we get to talk about that now. Cosplay is a thing that has existed for a very long time – granted, through different names, but the idea of dressing up as someone else from a fictional world is fairly old – and I feel is often overlooked. I grew up around a crowd of people who liked doing cosplay, and the amount of care and time they would put into it always amazed me. The article explained some of the processes of creating the more complex props, like the bone sword that used elements of 3D printing. I had a friend who used to heavily revamp wigs, and although it is not nearly as far-fetched as 3D printing, it was still something that required a lot of time and skill.
This article gave some fascinating insight on how over-the-top, crazy weapons pulled from a video game were realized as practical props for a movie. What struck me most was the sheer scale of the weapons – obviously, in video games, the rules of physics do not necessarily get followed, nor your typical biological standards for the strength of humans. Looking at some of the stills of the finalized props, I am shocked to see just how large they are, particularly the hunter’s bow and giant sword. These pieces in particular appear to be larger than the actors themselves. I was particularly impressed by the design of the bow, as it is actually a functioning bow… to an extent. The fact that the bow is almost twice as large as the character wielding it, and on top of that actually fires arrow (albeit weakly) is truly incredible, considering how realistic the wood and metal treatments look. That bow looks like it would weigh at least one hundred pounds, and yet, the still frame shows the character holding it out at arm’s length with ease, with an arrow nocked and ready to be fired.
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